Increasingly the publicity and operations of the book business involve the movement of data as much as physical product: to social networks, event calendars, retail partners, authors, and readers themselves. And yet the outlets for that information still seem to ask for it in different languages and the problem of having to format an event listing, press release, or book excerpt 16 different ways for 16 different recipients hangs around like a rude dinner guest. How do we assure marketing and publicity information can be read anywhere by anyone?

In this section we’ll explore and argue for universal standards throughout publishing, for event listings, for press materials, author bios, and content licensing. We’ll demonstrate how publishing’s present and future depends on everyone speaking the same language, competitors and partners alike.

Kevin Smokler

Kevin Smokler enterprises

Otis Chandler

Goodreads.com

Otis is the founder and CEO of Goodreads.com – a social network for
book lovers. Launched in late 2006, the site has since grown to over
1.6 million members, completely by word of mouth. Goodreads raised an
angel round in 2007, and is otherwise privately owned.

Along with a passion for building websites, Otis is also a voracious
reader. He started Goodreads as part of a personal goal to read more
books, and watch less TV, and has found a large core group of people
that love reading, and have helped drive the direction of Goodreads.
He is an engineer at heart, and loves tinkering and listening to
customers in order to make the best product possible.

Before founding Goodreads, Otis was a Software Engineer and Product
Manager at Tickle.com. Monster Worldwide, the leading purveyor of
online jobs, purchased the company in 2004. At Tickle, Otis was in
charge of LoveHappens.com, a top ten online dating service. Otis
credits all his knowledge of building successful online media websites
to his experiences at Tickle. Otis graduated with a B.S. in
Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, where he always
believed he would one day build cars.

Tim Spalding

LibraryThing

Kirk Biglione

Oxford Media Works

Kirk is a seasoned digital media professional specializing in web publishing systems, SEO, and user experience. As principal of Oxford Media Works Kirk consults with clients on a range of issues related to web publishing and digital media strategies. Kirk shares his knowledge of web content management systems at WP Apprentice, an online training portal designed to help publishers use WordPress as a CMS.

Vogele speaks and writes regularly on issues related to intellectual
property and the Internet. She holds a non-residential fellowship at
Stanford’s Center for Internet & Society (cyberlaw.stanford.edu) and
has been featured on numerous on-line programs including the New York Times
Tech Talk, CNET Real Deal, CNET Live, and This Week In Law. Her
published works include the Podcasting Legal Guide (2006) (with
Creative Commons and Harvard’s Berkman Center), an audio podcast Rules
for the Revolution; an article Podcasting for Corporations and
Universities: Look Before You Leap (with E. Townsend Gard; Oct. 2006
in the Journal of Internet Law/Aspen Publishers); and contributing
authorship in The Business Podcasting Book — Launching, Marketing and
Measuring Your Podcast (Focal Press/Elsevier, Inc.). She is an
Editorial Advisory Board member of the Journal for Internet Law, the
California Lawyer magazine, and The Conversations Network, and a Board
member of INFORUM, a division of the Commonwealth Club of California.